Looking at getting back into mountain biking after a brief hiatus ideally wanting a 140mm ish Hardtail was thinking Nukeproof Scout Race 27.5 or Vitus Sentier VES 27.5, however I’m open to suggestions.

You might want to consider a 29er.
Bigger wheels really suit a hardtail with a decent fork.

I believe both have a 29er option so something to consider what the main benefits 27.5 was all the rage last time I rode.

I ride a 27.5+ Whyte 909 and I think their years of refining an optimum UK hardtail trail bike really show. If you’re an aggressive rider, the rear wheel on a hardtail takes a right old beating. In my opinion, 27.5 is marginally stronger than 29 and the difference in ride feel isn’t noticeable. With 2.8″ tyres, run at low pressure (with a rim protector in the rear), it’s a relatively lightweight hardnut. They spec the fork at 130mm and no longer. This makes sense if you think about it – the longer the travel, the steeper it makes the head angle on a hardtail. By keeping the travel that bit shorter, it actually makes for a stiffer and more aggressive ride. And of course, long, low and slack is de riguer these days and a roomy front triangle makes a huge difference on handling and stability.

The benefits of 29er vs smaller wheels is that is that they tend to skip over holes rather than fall into them.

As Jim states theoretically 29er wheels are slightly weaker but I have actually found 29ers wheels to last a bit longer than 26er wheels of similar quality, i think it’s because of that skipping over stuff rather than smacking into the face of holes. You would imagine that 27.5 would be somewhere in the middle.

Even if you can’t ride then exact bikes you plan to buy see if you can get a test ride on similar bikes with the different wheel sizes and see which one you prefer. E.g. get a test ride on a Cotic Soul/BFe and a Cotic Solaris.

What Trailrider Jim said. If that were my budget, I would be tempted by a Whyte 905. I don’t have one – I have a Bfe with 26 in wheels. But basically any hardtail benefits from fatter rubber within reason, so my (very stiff) hardtail gets ridden with 2.2 – 2.4 rubber in the summer. When I put on some winter boots (i.e. mud tyres) that are thinner, you can really feel the difference. I took the bike to the Alps in 2018 with some decent sized tyres f& r and it was a lot of fun to ride.

I think Whyte seem to have got the hardtail design very well refined and the 901/5/9 range look amazing. Would be on the top of my list if I was starting afresh.

Thanks guys heavily leaning towards the Whyte 901/5 now will go have a look at one soon.

I was looking for a similar thing to you last week and settled on a 2018 Orange P7 which I found reduced to around £1200

It is available in either 27.5 with 140mm or 29er with 130mm, and from what I can tell, both are the same frame so it should be possible to swap between the two if you can get it to work with the forks.

There are still a few of the reduced 2018 models about, but seem to be getting more limited in availability of certain frame sizes

I too bought a P7 29er recently – had a couple of rides so far and it’s great. A bargain at under 1100 quid.

Whyte is definately a great ride. Universally brilliant reviews.

P7 looks amazing but is a weighty beast, see MBUK long termer this month said it’s quite dull because of it.

I looked st the Orange Clockwork 137 / Vitus Sentier vrx+ / Airdrop Bitmap / Nukeproof Scout 275 when I was looking for something similar recently. I wanted 650b as I already had wheels spare in that size – but you can get some of them in either wheel size.

I went Vitus in the end because it was cheap (£150 frame only) more than anything else. I’ve built it up with DT Swiss e1900 wheels / sram gx 11 speed / 140mm Pikes etc.

So far it’s hilarious and I’ve done some uplifting on it at Flyup 417, playing on pump tracks and some tame trail centre riding around Bristol.

It depends what sort of stuff you are going to use it for really – I have an enduro fs bike so I didn’t want something too long / low /
Slack – the Vitus is modern but not that modern.

The various Orange options are much longer, as are the Nukeproof / Airdrop / Whyte equivalents. If it’s your only bike these are probably a better option for you.

You could add a Bird Zero AM Boost to that list too – although I don’t know what the cost for a fully built one is.

Discussed in an other thread the new Radon Swoop and saw this:

Radon Cragger

Radon Cragger 7.0, 130 mm fork
long and slack 29 er hardtail for 1.2 k GBP

Didn’t know that Radon builds such a nice hardtail – I only know them from XC racing machines and the Swoop.

Cragger is new? Looks neat to me!

That Cragger looks very good value with decent geometry, I’ve got another Radon bike and really rate it. If I had have seen that before ordering the P7 then I may well have considered it instead.

In true recommend what you have style I’ll say Nukeproof Scout.
Been really impressed with mine (27.5 flavour).
Although I notice that the Virus frame looks suspiciously similar to the Nukeproof – so also probably a good choice.

That Cragger looks ace value and great geometry.
If I needed to replace my Nail Trail, I think I would be going to that…

Go steel if you can afford it – big difference in ride quality. I wouldn’t worry about the weight – you won’t notice it unless it’s a tank.

This is ridiculously good:

https://www.wiggle.co.uk/vitus-sentier-29-vr-mountain-bike-slx-1×11-2019/

and 650b. https://www.wiggle.co.uk/vitus-sentier-vr-mountain-bike-slx-1×11-2019/

£879 with a platinum discount, although I’m not sure if a Sektor fork is any good?

Have a look at the Bird Zero range.
There are some good deals on the Zero TR at the moment.

I’ve got 29er Nukeproof Scout, awesome bike for anything and everything. Never tried a 27.5 but a 29er Hardtail would appear to be the sweet spot.

a 29er Hardtail would appear to be the sweet spot.

A 27.5 with 2.8″ tyres will be very close to overall 29 diameter and you have the benefit of wider tyres (which on a hardtail are a game changer). Guess we’ll always be fans of our own rigs 😉

Go steel if you can afford it – big difference in ride quality. I wouldn’t worry about the weight – you won’t notice it unless it’s a tank.

Mmmmhhh. Was tempted to buy a steel hardtail and made some test rides. Guess there are some sensors missing in my body – but detected only “more weight” but no difference in ride quality. But all bikers are different of course.

racing machines: guess Carbon is the way to go?
Low cost bikes, fun focus: Aluminium (I will stick with those)

Had a chance to bike a very low weight XC racing Carbon bike for some days. Have to admit that this was like “day and night” compared to the bikes I have. Expensive so.

But possible of course as well: my skills are not good enough to sense the steel frame advantage.

I have owned and ridden hardtails for a good few years, for me without a doubt the biggest thing that makes the difference is a decent fork.
I would say a good 130mm is way better than an average 150mm fork.

regarding frame material, my Titanium 26 wheeled bike rode great, but most 29ers cover ground more easily.
With that in mind i would possibly look at some lower end sale bikes and immediately swap the fork for something better.
there are non boost 150mm 29er pikes on wiggle at £350 easily lowered to 130mm
There were OEM fox forks for sale on some german sites for £200
Would even look at a build up using new frame /fork / wheels from sales and some good used parts.

Either way £1500 is a good budget for an ally hardtail I picked up a nearly new santacruz chameleon for around that price recently

I ride a Whyte 905 and its nowt shy of brilliant yes its only for 130mm for travel up front which i will be changing to 140mm but its not been phased by anything ive chucked at it , I had a p7 crush both 150 and a Commential Meta (170)mm) and they were not a patch on the 905.. There must be a reason why it got 10/10 on MBR

Plenty of good recommendations here already.
Personally I’d buy a Solaris max frame and build with a mix of new and used parts.

If you’re tall enough for an XL, start fitness have a clockwork going cheap… https://m.startfitness.co.uk/cycle/bikes/hardtail-mtb/orange-2018-clockwork-137-s-hardtail-mountain-bike-green-b18cl137s.html
Code “sale10” gets it down to £1080.

They also have crush and p7 in Small and/or XL with the same price and code.

Thank for all the replies leaning towards the Whyte or Nukeproof, however the Marin San Quentin looks to be well speced for the Money and looks like a fun bike.

I got a Ritchey Timberwolf from Merlin earlier this year, steel frame, very light with 120-150 forks, excellent spec and fun to ride, it was £1339 reduced down from about £3K, but I paid £349 cash and the rest on the bike to work scheme so overall it will cost me closer to £1000. https://www.merlincycles.com/ritchey-timberwolf-mountain-bike-2017-110816.html Great bike mostly used for longish rides in the Lakes where a bit of carrying is required.

Pinnacle iroko if you can find one. I picked up an iroko 4 full xt/pike fork for £500 ok it needed few bits. New wheels and chain/chainring/bb it’s ran sweet since.

£900 all in

So for some one like me who isn’t pushing that hard is a bike like a Whyte 905 the way to go? My use would be Bridleway stuff like say the Peak or Lakes where it’s to rough for a gravel bike. But generally enjoying the terrain and challenges up and down. Trail centres as well

The Whyte is really very slack which I get for stability at speed or down steep stuff. Are there down sides like keeping the front wheel down climbing and tight single track. Or are these bike just better. My assumption is that I’d be better off with something like an Orange Clockwork Evo which is a 1.5 degrees steeper or a Stanton Sherpa Next gen which is 3 degrees less steep

Of course when I get to the point when I’m off road often enough to justify a purchase a test ride will help